E-bike riders occasionally worry about the battery range. In the future, artificial intelligence will adjust the support so that it lasts until the destination. But AI also helps in other areas.
Artificial intelligence made in Baden-Württemberg will support e-bike owners in the future. At the Eurobike bicycle trade fair in Frankfurt, the technology group Bosch presented its AI solution “Range Control”, which makes it easier to plan tours with e-bikes.
The navigation software from Reutlingen calculates the battery level with which you will arrive at your destination. The system also takes into account various parameters such as the system weight, the elevation profile of the route and individual driving behavior. Since the AI learns from the live data, the forecasts become more and more precise over time.
At the start of the tour, riders can also specify the minimum battery level they want to reach their destination with. In this case, the system regulates the electric motor dynamically and adjusts the motor support as needed.
Reaching the goal with AI
AI is also supposed to help with route planning. Over time, the system learns which road types, which surfaces or which gradients are preferred and at what speed, and suggests an appropriate route.
At the trade fair in Frankfurt, Bosch also presented new types of electric gear shifts that were developed together with the specialists from TRP and Shimano. In the future, e-bikes will be able to shift gears fully automatically if desired. Inexperienced e-bikers in particular are sometimes unsure about selecting the right gear and can fully focus on the riding itself and the traffic environment with the automatic gear shift.
“This makes e-bike riding more comfortable, more individual and also safer,” said Claus Fleischer, Managing Director of Bosch eBike Systems. The Bosch subsidiary is one of the largest suppliers of e-bike components such as motors, batteries and software for networked bicycles and supplies bicycle manufacturers such as Centurion, Cresta, Flyer, Gazelle, Kalkhoff, Kettler, KTM, Riese & Müller and Velo de Ville.
Impulses from politics
Fleischer told the German Press Agency that demand for e-bikes is “still good”. “But it has also been better.” The industry is experiencing “headwinds from politics”. This includes the “lack of courage when it comes to bicycle infrastructure and the expansion of cycle paths”. Fleischer stressed that politicians must recognise that bicycles and e-bikes are a “great alternative for mobility in the city, but also for people’s leisure activities”. “Everyone who rides a bicycle is actively moving.”
Source: Stern
